Well day one of our blog page and the sexual innuendos have already begun!

Hello i am Lee, like Charley has pointed out this was set up as a means for us to waste as much time as possible and avoid doing any work be it uni or otherwise. So far its proving pretty well considering i’ve been at work for 4hours now and have done nothing but work out how to navigate around this website and make it look nice lol. It looks like Blogging was a good answer.

So i think the people at my work think i have a bladder problem. Im trying to begin drinking 2 litres of water a day, apparently doing this makes you lose weight, makes your skin clear, makes you less tired, gives you more energy and helps keep your insides healthy – so i figure if i can do this i wont have to go to the gym, eat healthy, wash my face or sleep but it also makes you need to pee every 10 minutes! I guess theres always a down side huh 😉

So a bit about me, im a uni student who has just begun working full time – dont ask me why but i regretted the decision as soon as it was made! I was considering quitting but then i got my first pay cheque and well you know.. its funny how much money can change things. Im just about to finish my undergrad degree and planning on doing another year of postgrad study after this, although i havent come up with a thesis topic and i only have about 3 more weeks to decide 😦 Its an impossible decision, how am i supposed to come up with a topic for a 20 thousand word thesis when i know i’ll start writing it and 5000 words in, i’ll change my mind ah well.

Well thats me for the moment, I’ve drawn a blank 🙂 This was all very exciting – my very first blog entry! 🙂 Hopefully the next one will be more entertaining! I’ll keep you posted on my water experienment, bye for now!

Wow, there I go – I guess I’ve just lost my blogging virginity… It’s quite a nice feeling really.

My mum asked me the other day “What’s a blog?”, I explained to her what it was to the best of my ability, and then she said “So it’s a website?”. I felt like replying “No, it’s when you do a bog and it comes out in logs”… Parents hey…

Now me and some colleagues have gotten together with this little project as a way of helping us procrastinate (because we find procrastination so difficult otherwise, not).

I’m not too sure where the whole thing is going, but I expect we will fill it up with random thoughts and ideas, stories from our sometimes interesting (often ordinary) lives, quotes, jokes, donkey tails and comments and oppinions we have on current (and not so current) issues. Who knows what might come up; you’ll have to see for yourself! ;p I’m sure we won’t bore you, because if you get the slightest hint of bordum you’ll just close the browser or go somewhere else.

So ENJOY!

And read our self-indulgent woffle.

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Was it as good for you as it was for me?

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Anybody else wanna share their stories of how they lost their blogging virginity? Or any other kind of virginity for that matter?

“Last spring, leaders who met in Rome said the there wasn’t enough money for the Millennium Development Goals, yet no one had any problem finding millions
of dollars for the banks,” said Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga.

In a recent interview with Famiglia Cristiana, Cardinal Rodriguez said that the current global crisis has not only created more poverty but it is the poor
who are paying the highest price.

“The petrol crisis, where prices went through the roof this summer, created 100 million poor people,” said Cardinal Rodríguez.

“To feed one billion malnourished people in the world, you only need US$30 billion per year, less than 5 percent of the White House’s bank bailout plan,”
he said.

The Cardinal says financial crimes surely produce more deaths than war, hunger, thirst and disease because of the poverty they cause, and should be punished.

He says the money that disappeared during the current crisis has actually gone into the pockets of the rich – to the detriment of the poor. He says that
change is the only way forward.

“We have to understand that capitalism, the ruler of the world economy for the past 30 years, has failed,” he said. “It doesn’t need to be built up again,
it needs to be changed.”

Cardinal Rodríguez warned that the recession will create more unemployment and there will be knock-on effects from this. He says that remittances from
Latin American immigrants in the USA have already started to go down.

The Church has a key role in establishing rules and guaranteeing everyone’s well-being, said the Cardinal.

“What we’re seeing today is above all an ethical crisis, where people don’t limit their wants,” he said. “This goes as much for military spending as it
does for the housing boom. The world doesn’t just revolve around money, there are other values.”

The Cardinal said that lack of trust as well as fear have contributed to the current climate.

“Fear rules us,” he said. “Fear of losing our money, fear of other nations, fear of not being able to buy things.

“Post-September 11th terrorism has achieved its aim: it has spread fear across the world and laid fertile ground for racism which produces poverty and closes
societies.”

Cardinal Rodríguez said the current crisis is not about to end. On the contrary, it is only just beginning.

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The above was posted on the Caritas Internationalis blog on 17 November 2008.

Although I don’t usually listen to the Church or anyone from the Church, this guy seems to be talking sense. I agree with much of what he’s saying. But there are a couple of points he glossed over.

He blames governments for not putting enough money towards the Millennium Development Goals, saying how little money it would take, but doesn’t mention why the Catholic Church still feels it necissary to hang on to all those priceless statues, paintings and relics when the sale price of them could probably feed the world.

It’s too easy to blame others. There’s always someone else with more money, who’s more responsible, who we can blame for not doing anything about the problem and eas our own consciences. The problem is us. We have to start taking responsibility our selves.

If we demanded that our governments put more money into foreign aid than military spending, if eradicating poverty was truely our priority, I’m sure politicians would listen and alocate the budget accordingly. But politicians know that most of us really care far more about our own pockets, our own jobs and mortgages than starving children in other countries.

I know that whenever I start thinking that I could be giving a lot more of my money to charity I soon start justifying why I need it more. I tell myself that I will, as soon as I’ve payed this bill, or come back from that holiday, or as soon as I start earning more money etc etc. And then I think that really it should be the responsibility of the government, or the rich people of the world, and that my small contributions wouldn’t really make much difference anyway. They’re all just disgusting ways of trying to avoid my own responsibility by putting the responsibility and blame on someone else. As long as we can continue finding someone else, some other country, institution or system to blame, we will never fix the problem of poverty.

That’s why I’m trying to take some advice from Michael Jackson, and start with ‘the man in the mirror’.

For those of you keeping score, I finally quit my job today. As i have been waiting anxiously for this day for the past few weeks it dawned on me – post resignation- how odd the resignation process is.

It could be the kind of person I am or it could be the nature of the business but I was nervous and stressed about telling my (previous) place of employment of my desire to leave them. I kept imagining this scene where i would walk into my boss’s office with a false bravado and declare my resignation in which he would respond with a glare pick up his stapler and throw it at me whilst erupting into rage startling the whole office. As much as I knew this was unlikely to happen I still couldnt help but think it was a definate possibility.

My fear of this scene becoming a reality took control and waited to resign until my boss was out of the country – far away. Thus i could resign through email and no face-to-face confrontation. Call me weak, scared, gutless or all of the above but the anxiety caused from thinking about quitting was too much to bear. Why so anxious?

I dont owe these people anything. Sure i made a commitment, and yes i have not been here a very long time but in reality i took the job in good faith and ultimately it didnt fulfill my expectations (hence the creation of Mutual Procrastination) so why shouldn’t i resign? – i know your all thinking i am trying to justify my actions to avoid any feelings of guilt – which is slightly what i am doing (hehe) but really i am trying to understand why resigning strikes fear into the heart of so many.

It is a nerve-racking experience with a million ways of going about it. I could have stormed in here and announced to the whole office that i think this job is boring and awful and i quit effective immediately whilst going to my desk and clearing it (meaning taking to packet of nuts out of my top drawer) and slam the door behind me whilst screaming obscenities, now that would be an awesome way to resign 🙂 however i chose to tread a less dramatic path. I came into work sat down at my desk and proceeded to do my morning duties (check facebook, check hotmail, then check my uni website). After this i strolled into the head of HR’s office and said i have decided to quit. Insert awkward silence here. She then asked why and i a made a reasonable excuse and she said fine, and she was sorry to hear it. I gave her the official letter and that was the end of it.

Hmmm… was it worth all the stress? Apparently not! What a disappointment and i was prepared for blood sweat and tears. Oh well guess we can’t have everything hehe.

Anyway the point of this rant is to say from now on i am going to consciously try to be more confident and learn to say No to people without justifying why it is i say no. It is also to announce my new found sense of absolute freedom (4 weeks from now – damn notice!) and how happy that makes me! Dont ever let the man get you down…

1.28pm. 3 hours and 32 minutes until i can leave this place. I have nothing to do but do not want to go on lunch yet. I’d rather go at two so when i return it will be 2:30 and then its only 2.5 hours until i can leave. Whats killing me is its a public holiday and everyone else gets the day off, except for my office, why i ask! why! on top of this we don’t get paid anything extra for being here and we had a ‘special lunch’ which ended up being paid for by us, talk about incentives to come to work!

1:30pm. Only two minutes has passed, its excruitiating. I know this is a cliche question but why is it that when you are having the time of your life time flies but when your literally about ready to take the stapler in front of you and staple yourself to see if you are indeed alive, time decides to drag on and on and on and on. What is with that?

1:32. i am hoping this writing will kill the time but as you can see only four minutes has passed, i thought ten had. Maybe i can send a sneaky email around my work encouraging people to go on strike in protest against this entrapment on a glorious public holiday, i’ll organise i coup and overthrow those in power and announce a free day for all, or at least an early mark?? Come on, you know you want to.

I’m not new to the world of the office worker, having worked in one for over 5 years. Yet since recently changing employers i realise the role of the office worker is not quite what i thought it was. You see at my old job i was the Office Assistant aka Office Bitch, no real role or post just a general ‘helper’ which was fine with me considering i am a uni student and the last thing i want is responsibility. However i decided to leave this job and try and pursue something more in line with my degree. On good faith i took a job that seemed full of opportunities to expand my knowlege and obtain some real hands on experience – i was wrong.

My day as Receptionist / Personal Assistant consists of checking emails, distributing the mail and faxes, and filing. Yes that’s a full stop after filing, i have no more tasks required of me other than this, which means when 9:30am strikes i have finished my work for the day. What to do with my time i wonder, lets just say google books is a god send!

Anyway back on track, as i go through my day i cant help but think surely there is something else i am meant to be doing, they cant really have hired me if all they want me to do is an hour’s worth of work. I ask my colleauges and they don’t require any help so i am left to my own devices, which currently entails making files look extra pretty and constantly browsing the stationary cupboard for new additions to my top drawer.

Maybe this is how all offices run, and my previous job was just out of step? Considering at my old job i was literally running around the offices meeting deadlines and typing away as fast as i could to make sure things were done by 5pm, it has taken a lot of will power to slow down and do nothing. Anyways if you can’t already tell i am starting to dislike my new exciting opportunity filled job as it is slowly sucking my soul from within me.

This issue has been really getting to me recently, so here I am putting my 2000 rupiahs in.

First let me say that the Bali bomb was a terrible tragedy, terribly sad, cruel, unfair and unjust what happened to the 88 (or there abouts) Australians killed, the countless more Indonesians who died, and all their friends and families. The perpetrators should certainly be brought to justice. (Of course, same goes for the second Bali bombing)

But the key here is “justice”. It’s funny how so many Australians were concerned with whether or not Schapelle received a fair trial, whether or not her guilt was proven beyond reasonable doubt, but no one seems to care whether or not the accused Bali bombers had a fair trial or not, all they seem to care about is that they are punished severely enough.

I’ve heard a number of comments in the media recently along the lines of “they need to hurry up and execute them. It will be an embarrassment to Indonesia if they don’t execute them soon”. Developing countries can’t win can they; one day they’re a disgrace to the international community because they’re executing people, the next day they’re an embarrassment because they’re not executing people.

We need to be principled, and consistent.

There are many good, rational, and reasonable justifications for capital punishment. Keeping people locked up is a burden on tax payers money, money that could otherwise be spent on helping the innocent and the poor, for example. If faced with 20 years + in a ridiculously hot, stuffy, stinky, disease-ridden Indonesian prison, with open drain toilets and high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, with I can’t even imagine what kind of food, I might very well prefer death.

Despite this, I don’t believe in capital punishment. I don’t think it’s right to make killing illegal, and then kill people ourselves if they break the law. And just think of the consequences if we get the wrong person.

However, whether you are pro or anti capital punishment, I think we need to be consistent. If you would not support capital punishment in your own country, your own state, then don’t support it in other people’s country.

Before you wish capital punishment on others, think about it if it was your children, your parents, or your friend who was facing that sentence. Surely life in prison is bad enough?

As I believe most people would be against capital punishment in Australia, it shocks and angers me to hear people demanding Indonesia executes the Bali bombers.I think we should be demanding Indonesia abolishes capital punishment altogether, rather than demanding they implement it.

So please, unless you would be happy to see capital punishment make a come back in Australia, don’t demand the Bali bombers’ execution! Be consistent with your principles and demand that the Bali bombers, what ever their crimes, are not killed by their government.

A German man’s application for Australian permant residency has just been denied because his 13year old son has Down Syndrome. Apparently the Australian government believes if a migrant will be a burden on Australia, in this case put pressure on Australian health services, then they will not be permitted to stay for good. Oh sorry did i forget to mention that the dad of this boy is a doctor? and not just a doctor but the ONLY fulltime doctor at Wimmera Base Hospital. Huh… this makes absolutely no logical sense to me. Moreover there are constant complaints about the lack of doctors within Australia, especially within rural areas, and here they are kicking someone who is not only willing to work in rural Australia but actually wants to work there! Sometimes i wonder who makes these decisions, i really do.

Australian immigration policies are bad enough, and this is just icing on the cake. Where is the justification? Is this not utter discrimination? I am aware of health checks on incoming migrants, and i understand the threats posed to Australians if migrants are able to come without being checked for disease etc, BUT i do not see how this arguement fits in with this case? Can a 13 year old boy really be classified as a “significant cost to the community”? Especially when his father’s occupation contributes so much more?

As I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings I couldn’t believe what I saw. A tall gangly figure staring intently at her, he was so pale with eyes the colour of steel but most notably he had two golden antlers growing from the side of his head. Next to him stood a woman of unimaginable beauty, raven curls tumbling down her back, dressed in a white silk dress clinging to her womanly curves. What an odd pair, yet i somehow felt I had seen them before, but where?

“Don’t be frightened’, said the beautiful woman as she extended her hand to pull me up. It was at this moment that i realised I was completely naked, save for a golden anklet which was digging into my flesh, i was sitting in a large pond filled with emerald coloured water. Whenever the light caught at the ripples vibrant colours of gold and red would shimmer through the water, the whole pond was covered in white lillies with dragonflies darting here and there. What was this place.

I hesitated before taking the woman’s hand, this was a mistake. The tall pale man glared at me with such ferocity i thought i would fall back into the water with a thud.